Bursting the Bubble: Ivan Provorov
This past Thursday 7/9, Ivan Provorov was awarded the Flyers’ Barry Ashbee Trophy as the team’s most outstanding defenseman.
This was the second time the 7th overall pick from 2015 has been chosen for this award in his four years with the team.
He ended the season with 13 goals and 36 points leading all players on the blueline and tying Giroux for the team lead with seven powerplay goals.
After a down 2018-2019 season, Provorov came back and looked great this season and recorded his highest Corsi rating through his first 4 years with a 52.4%. Even though he started over 53% of faceoffs in the defensive zone, he was still pushing play into the offensive zone and helping the Flyers get more shots.
The most important part of this is that he had these great underlying numbers while also averaging about 25 minutes of ice-time a night, which is top-10 in the league.
All this information about Provorov’s season makes me think he will be a standout player once August hits and the NHL returns. One of the concerns for most teams will be if their players are coming back in shape and ready to play.
From what we have heard about Provorov’s workout routines during the offseason, he is a complete workhorse that spends every day getting in better shape and progressing.
This leads me to believe that he will be one of the most in-shape players in the entire league, and it will be great to see him at work again.
The other piece we have seen with Provorov is his passion when it came to his one other time in the playoffs. Back in the 2018 playoffs, we later found out that he was playing with a separated shoulder and was visibly upset with losing that round.
During his exit interview above he states:
“As long as my arm is attached, I’m playing.”
Throughout his NHL career, Provorov has not missed a single one of his first 315 games and has always had a hard work ethic.
Now that he’s gained confidence during this past season, he will be a force to be reckoned with this postseason.
Keep an eye on him this year, he’s going to be on the ice a ton and making things happen.
Feel free to get used to it as well, as he’s only 23 years old and his contract runs through 2025.
Featured Image: --- Stats: hockey-reference.com
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Categorized:Flyers